Prospect Talent Score

Probability of Success

History

2008-09: Patrick McNally skated for the Suffolk (NY) PAL in the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League and scored 25 goals with 41 assists and 72 PMs in 52 games.

2009-10: McNally played for Milton Academy in Massachusetts. In 28 games, McNally scored 14 goals and added 21 assists for 35 points. McNally was named to the All New England First Team, and was voted Prep Defenseman of the Year by U.S. Hockey Report.

2010-11: McNally was a team captain at Milton Academy as the team won the New England Prep league championship.

2011-12: McNally burst onto the college scene as a freshman – scoring 6 goals with 22 assists in 34 games for Harvard. He was a finalist for the ECAC Rookie of the Year award. His 28 points were second only to Carolina prospect Danny Biega amongst Crimson defensemen. After scuffling to stay above .500 for much of the season, finishing third in ECAC Hockey, Harvard won five of its first six games in the ECAC tournament to advance to the championship game against Union.

2012-13: McNally played seven games for Harvard in his sophomore season before being suspended for the season as part of a university-wide academic scandal. Expected to be one of the leaders for the Crimson, he had 1 goal with 2 assists and was +2 with 6 penalty minutes. Harvard, after losing McNally and three other players due to the scandal, finished last in ECAC Hockey and lost to Dartmouth in a best-of-three preliminary series in the conference tournament. McNally was re-instated and will skate for Harvard in 2013-14.

2013-14: McNally played in just 20 games for Harvard as a junior after returning to school following his abbreviated sophomore season. He scored 1 goal with 7 assists and was -5 with 12 penalty minutes. Expected to be one of the top teams in ECAC Hockey following the turbulent 2012-13 season, Harvard finished tied with Dartmouth for 10th in the 12-team league and was swept by Yale in a two-game first round playoff series.

2014-15: McNally was enjoying a breakout season for Harvard as a senior before suffering a leg injury in a game against Cornell on January 23rd. The injury kept him out for the rest of the regular season and impacted Harvard’s hopes for an ECAC Hockey regular season title. Prior to McNally’s the Crimson were one of the nation’s top teams — opening the season with an 11-1-2 record in their first 14 games. His return during the ECAC Hockey tournament was a key factor in Harvard’s run to a league championship and NCAA tournament berth. McNally had a game-tying goal and assisted on the game winner, finishing +2 in Harvard’s 3-2 double overtime win in the decisive game of their quarterfinal series with Yale and scored a goal with two assists in the Crimson’s 4-2 victory over Colgate in the league championship game. Nebraska-Omaha defeated Harvard, 4-1, in the NCAA Midwest regional semifinals. McNally scored 6 goals with 15 assists and was +16 with 10 penalty minutes in 21 games for Harvard. The Sharks obtained the rights to McNally from Vancouver in a trade on June 27th and he signed a two-year entry-level contract with San Jose in July 2015.

Talent Analysis

McNally is an offensively gifted defenseman who reads the ice well and can move the puck with aplomb. He has a knack for finding an open teammate and has good size which he puts to good use while battling in the corners for pucks. McNally's skill set is ideal for running a power play and he is adept at controlling the tempo of the game.

Future

McNally was obtained by San Jose in a draft day deal with Vancouver and will attend his first NHL camp with the Sharks in 2015-16. He will likely begin his pro career with the new Sharks' AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. His skill set and play at the college level suggest some Torey Krug-like potential but with a deep defense corps in the Sharks' system he may have to bide his time before getting an opportunity. With a successful season with the Barracuda he could also draw lucrative offers from clubs in Europe.

Photo: San Jose Sharks prospect Timo Meier, the team’s first top ten draft pick since 2007, is part of a European talent influx into the organization (courtesy of Dennis Pajot/Getty Images)

Over the course of two off-seasons, the San Jose Sharks have vastly improved their prospect ranks. The once small and meager prospect pool has quietly evolved into a massive, shark-infested ocean.

While still lacking in true blue chip talent, this is without a doubt the strongest crop of players the Sharks have had in their system in the last ten seasons. But that comes as no surprise with the decline of the NHL roster and its recent playoff failings. After all, prospect pools and winning are typically inversely proportional.

Yes, Mike Gillis did attend the draft. Apparently not liking the looks of things in the first round, the Vancouver Canucks‘ General Manager sent the 25th overall pick, along with Michael Grabner and Steve Bernier, to Florida in exchange for Keith Ballard and Victor Oreskovich. The Panthers took Quinton Howden, who has yet to become a full-fledged NHL player, but the Canucks might have taken a gamble on a player still on the board like Evgeny Kuznetzov, Brock Nelson, or Emerson Etem who have done so. Read more»

Photo: Vancouver Canucks prospect Patrick McNally has been one of college hockey’s best defensemen when healthy. (courtesy of Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire)

Vancouver’s prospect pool is largely a professional group this season. Though the Canucks have looked to the United States college path as a developmental course with great success in the past (Ryan Kesler, Cory Schneider, R.J. Umberger, Adrian Aucoin), the last significant draft selection was 2009’s first round pick used on Jordan Schroeder, who disappointed as a Canuck. Boston College’s Thatcher Demko will look to reverse that trend.

Photo: University of Denver defenseman Joey LaLeggia (L) and Harvard University forward Jimmy Vesey (R) are two standouts taking part in the East and Midwest regionals at the 2015 NCAA Hockey Tournament (courtesy of Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire)

The 16 schools that make up the field for the 2015 NCAA Hockey Tournament have been chosen, with the regionals that makeup the tournament getting underway beginning today. Two of those regionals, the Northeast and West, go off today and were previewed by Hockey’s Future yesterday. The East and Midwest regionals begin tomorrow, and are previewed below. Read more»